Advocate Yogesh Mehta, who bought commercial property in the last week of June, is waiting for registration of property with the Inspectorate General of Registration (IGR) and Stamp Department in the state as there is no clarity on Local Body Tax (LBT) for property registrations. At present, citizens pay 6% stamp registration fee (5% is stamp duty fee as per the Maharashtra Stamp Act and 1% is LBT). “I would prefer to hold on to registration than pay extra as LBT,'' Mehta said. Bibwewadi (Pune) resident Pravin Bafana is also holding on to registering his property for clarity on LBT from the state finance department. “Since GST came into force from July 1, we are hoping the state government issues a circular to stop collection, as we do not end up paying more for property registration,'' said Bafana, who booked a property nearby . The state IGR continues to collect 1% LBT despite the Centre implementing Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July1and doing away with local body taxes. Citizens registering immovable properties are continuing to pay 1% more for registrations under LBT, with no clear direction from the state government.

IGR officials told TOI stamp registration comes under the Stamp Act and unless the state government issues a notification they will continue with the process. `The Stamp and Registration Act is different. On LBT collection, the state finance department has to issue a circular,'' senior officials from the registration department said. Senior finance department officials said they would look into the technicalities. “With octroi gone, LBT should also go and only stamp duty should be collected, as in other states,'' Mehta said.